Chapter 24: A Resounding Victory
The battle ended swiftly, within just four or five minutes.
The Fire Child's arrival was the final straw that broke the Blackscale Lizards' resistance.
Wherever the little creature went, Blackscale Lizards were turned into living torches, their bodies engulfed in flames as they fell and writhed on the ground, their screams echoing before they were reduced to charred corpses.
Even the chieftain, powerful as it was, could only withstand the Fire Child's assault for a short while before meeting the same fiery end.
The elemental Fire Child was the perfect counter to the Blackscale Lizards, who relied solely on their physical prowess without any Dou Qi.
After the battle, everyone began cleaning the battlefield.
Those who passed by Sunan couldn't help but steal glances at him, their eyes filled with awe.
The Fire Child was terrifying, but Sunan, who could summon such a creature, was even more awe-inspiring.
The soldiers who hadn't participated in the battle at the Blackrock Mine were especially shocked.
They never expected that the frail Young Master Sunan would be so powerful.
That strange and mysterious power seemed even greater than that of their lord!
At this moment, they finally understood why the knights always treated Sunan with such respect.
It was clearly the reverence they held for a powerful being!
"After today's battle, the news of me becoming a wizard apprentice probably won't be kept secret any longer," Sunan mused, noticing the soldiers' gazes.
But he didn't mind. It was impossible to keep it a secret forever.
With the increasing number of knights in Blackrock City and the activity of the Blackrock Cavalry, more and more people would inevitably investigate the reasons behind it.
When that time came, he wouldn't be able to stay low-profile even if he wanted to.
There were still some elderly, women, and children among the Blackscale Lizards, about sixty or seventy of them.
Kyi didn't kill them all. Instead, he ordered them to be taken back to Blackrock City as prisoners, clearly intending to keep them as a continuous source of blood.
The dead Blackscale Lizards weren't wasted either. Their blood was drained and stored in special containers.
The mutant monitor lizard was also captured.
Compared to ordinary Blackscale Lizards, it was undoubtedly a better source of blood.
After all, it possessed true Dragon Lizard blood.
On the return journey, everyone was in high spirits.
Kyi couldn't hide his smile.
This battle had completely eradicated the Blackscale Lizard threat.
And their losses were less than fifty men.
Such a resounding victory was thanks to Sunan.
He alone had killed seventy or eighty Blackscale Lizards, including nearly ten knight-level elites.
This battle was a complete triumph!
More importantly, from now on, Blackrock City would have a steady supply of materials for creating Inferior Dragon Blood Potions.
Kyi could already envision the number of knights in Blackrock City skyrocketing.
The triumphant return of the army was met with enthusiastic cheers from the citizens.
The sight of the captured Blackscale Lizards further amplified the cheers.
Some civilians, who had lost loved ones to the lizards, even threw stones at the prisoners.
The soldiers didn't stop them, pretending not to notice, allowing the civilians to vent their anger.
Back at the inner castle, Kyi instructed Old Geller to prepare food and wine for a celebratory banquet, a suggestion met with enthusiastic approval from the knights, especially Jorton.
The inner castle was filled with jubilation throughout the night.
After the battle, Blackrock City returned to its path of development.
Sunan also became busy.
Besides meditation, he spent most of his time creating Inferior Dragon Blood Potions.
Large quantities of Blackscale Lizard blood were transported to his laboratory, and then transformed into potions.
Almost every day, new knights were born in Blackrock City.
It wasn't until the Blackscale Lizard blood obtained from the battle was completely consumed and they switched to drawing blood from the prisoners that Sunan slowed down his potion production.
However, by then, his attention had shifted to the mutant monitor lizard.
The creature had incredible vitality. After ten days of recovery, the burns inflicted by the Fire Child had completely healed.
Sunan had a large cage made from refined Blackrock Iron to hold the monitor lizard.
To prevent it from escaping, he also cast Touch of Fatigue on it every day.
Now, the monitor lizard cowered in fear whenever it saw him.
Inside the massive metal cage, under the lizard's aggrieved gaze, Sunan, as always, drew a large tube of blood before leaving and locking the cage securely.
The concentration of Dragon Lizard blood in the monitor lizard was higher than he had expected, reaching 18.35%.
If he used the blood of ordinary Blackscale Lizards, it would take more than twenty times the volume to synthesize Dragon Lizard blood of this concentration.
"With this concentration, it saves me a lot of time."
Sunan looked at the row of containers on the lab table, filled with the blood he had drawn from the monitor lizard over the past few days.
If he had relied on the Blackscale Lizard prisoners, it would have taken him a month or two to accumulate this much Dragon Lizard blood.
"This should be enough."
Steeling himself, Sunan began synthesizing Sub-dragon Blood and then proceeded to create Inferior Dragon Blood Potions.
Having created a large number of potions recently, his [Potion Making] skill had already surpassed 2000 proficiency, and he was only a little over 800 away from reaching level 3.
The success rate of creating Inferior Dragon Blood Potions had also exceeded 30%.
For a level 1 wizard apprentice, this was an astonishing success rate.
Half a day later, there were over twenty bottles of Inferior Dragon Blood Potions on the lab table.
Three of them even reached intermediate quality.
Sunan placed the potions into the Cube one by one.
After adding the three intermediate and five inferior potions, the synthesized potion on the interface finally underwent a qualitative change.
[Dragon Blood Potion (First-order/Inferior): After consumption, strengthens physique. The specific effect depends on the user's physique; the weaker the physique, the stronger the effect. Repeated use will weaken the effect. User's physique must be 5 or above.]
"Excellent."
A satisfied smile spread across Sunan's face.
If he directly created Dragon Blood Potions, with his current level 2 potion making skill, the success rate would likely be in the single digits.
Even if he got lucky and created one, the cost of materials would be at least six or seven times higher.
In comparison, it was clearly more cost-effective to create low-level potions and then synthesize them into higher-level ones using the Cube.
Without hesitation, Sunan synthesized the potions and immediately consumed one.
His current physique was 5.61, just meeting the consumption requirement.
A familiar heat surged through his body, reaching every limb and bone.
It felt as if he was immersed in scorching magma, the intense pain mixed with an undeniable thrill.
After a while, the sensation subsided.
Sunan exhaled, feeling his muscles and bones become denser, a surge of power coursing through him.
Checking his panel, his physique attribute had become 11.46!
An increase of nearly 6 points!
"As expected of a first-order potion!"
Sunan beamed.
In terms of physique alone, he was now almost on par with a mid-level knight.
His physique even surpassed his spiritual power, which was 11.35.
It seemed that compared to increasing spiritual power, strengthening the physical body was much easier for wizards (and apprentices).
"The Star Ring Meditation is only a little over 3000 proficiency away from reaching level 4. It should take a little over a month at most."
The thought of being promoted to a level 2 wizard apprentice soon filled Sunan with excitement.
Snapping out of his elation, he used the remaining Inferior Dragon Blood Potions to synthesize another Dragon Blood Potion.
He didn't plan to consume this one himself but intended to give it to Kyi.
"A person can take four or five Dragon Blood Potions at most, after which there's no furt
her effect. But this amount should be enough for Kyi to be promoted to a Great Knight."